Microsoft Office Live Small Business

Nicole,

Thanks for the update. I only found it though through a post in the community which will quickly get buried. I doubt anyone will see this blog entry.

This is critical information for OLSB users so you may want to post something on the community home page, where it at least has a shot of being seen.

Hi again,

Where is the pricing information for the P1 plan / Office Pro Plus bundle? I don't see it anywhere on the P1 plan page. I assume from the pricing you mention that Pro Plus is $15 a month?

I cannot see how I can edit my free website and if this will be possible

For 6 years I have built over 90 websites for my Local Business friends, and now manage them. So my comments represent 91 people & sites.

1/ What a disaster waiting to happen! I have 2x365 sites and am finding them 'worse' than the old system, by a long way; I can spell out why if you wish?

2/ Are you seriously suggesting I need to 'manually' transition 91 sites & domain names?? Would you! Come it is your decision to change to 365 give us the tools to do it professionally.

3/ What a complete betrayal of years of customer trust & commitment.

4/ What sort of customer 'support' is this for your product?

5/ Of my friends NONE of them NEED or WANT the cleaver stuff included in 365 with their websites thank you!   Charge £4.84/mth ok.

6/ I do NOT know which of your customers you have been listening to BUT it is NOT the millions of ordinary Local Business Owners who have a living to make in these difficult times!! You will NOT convince me otherwise. Look below for replies from a few of them. Worried, frustrated & annoyed!

7/ As a 72 Professional Engineer I would have thought a better structured  set of optional plans would have been a better approach; Option 1  Websites Only (as was) Option 2 P1 etc etc etc.

8/ Since 365 appeared in April this year there has been a proliferation of 'means of communication' Blogs, Communities etc etc til the mind is blown; seems in trying to be cleaver MS has lost it's personal contact with it's users. Perhaps on purpose? If you have the time (not running a business) then fine; but we have DO NOT that luxury!

9/ Then these partners have suddenly appeared at a cost; how nice, what a damming indictment on a product if it needs them for the ordinary punter to use the product ; it tells us a lot about the hidden agenda's and we thought you were such a honest & professional bunch.

10/ A similar explosion of instructions, hints, fixes, guidance notes etc etc makes the same statement; if all of these are necessary then there must be something wrong with the program or it's concept. Customers have not suddenly become 'useless'.

11/ I realise very well it is not an easy decision for MS (not you), BUT at least be direct, honest & transparent, talk to us NOT in foreign tongues, via strange networking social systems (how about an email eh?) as customers & people who have helped you build up YOUR business?

12/ As you can gather this is VERY SERIOUS and communications have been taking up my time since April INSTEAD of helping others to gain a new website, not good for them, YOU or me.

I do feel these comments need sending to Mr MS (senior) as they MUST be addressed & VERY SOON!

13/ I am more than keen to talk to anyone in MS who   phones me, the more senior the better; and promise to be as objective as I can be; speaking as I do from the 'coal-face' here on the ground!

I hope to hear from you soon

Ken (UK)

Nicole,

I see the link on the home page but not sure if anyone else will. I was thinking more along the lines of adding a box to the sidebar on every community page to highlight this important news.

Nicole,

I see the link on the home page but not sure if anyone else will. As you can see there are still many questions about 365 even though the basic information has been on the home page for a year. I was thinking more along the lines of adding a box to the sidebar on every community page to highlight this important news.

Nicole, Ken again just a thought emails going out Jan/Feb 2012. & MSLOsb kept live till April 2012, I beleive that is waht you are saying.

How on earth can I transition over 90 sites& domain names manually in that time?

It is impossible!

Any ideas! Not involving extra costs as my friends will be saying no-thanks.

Hope someone has a reasonable answer.

Ken (UK)

    The transition guide said that answers will be available to those who need them by asking in this community.  So far this community has been relatively useless other than to confirm that this entire process really is as ridiculous as is seems.

    Forget about 90 web sites, if only given 2 - 3 months of notification I would imagine that the average OLSB user would have incredible difficulty moving just one site.  Some of the questions asked in the forum are a testament to the ignorance of many users as to being able to create a website in the first place.  If the plan was now to offer 6 months free then this should have been offered in November.  This would have allowed users to have 6 months before having to move their domain names.  Instead they will have about 2 months to learn a completely new system and then completely rebuild all of their information, lots of which is contained within business applications and may or may not even be used as they are in 365.  There is a good chance that this will force a lot of users to have a down site or an incomplete site by the time they have to cancel their OLSB account.

    "Count on Microsoft, an industry leader in productivity, for reliability and security; Microsoft provides a financially-backed 99.9% uptime guarantee"

I seem to remember:

OLSB phone support

"Free Forever" custom domains and websites through OLSB

OLSB workspaces

OLSB store manager

OLSB secure customer log in

OLSB always on websites

    I am sure that I am missing something something from the list of dropped OLSB features, but even outside of that there has been a myriad of Microsoft services (like Office accounting) that are merely dropped rather than being fixed.

    OLSB has only been around for about 5 years or so.  What guarantee do your current customers have that they will not have to repeat this same process in another 5 years (or maybe even less).  Then again, what guarantee do they have that guarantee will carry any weight at that point.  At this time the most reliable solution for many users is going to be to move to a more reliable service provider.  As for myself, that is the plan.  Weebly, Yola, Blogger and many others do offer exactly what a lot of current OLSB customers are looking for.  You may be able to convince them to stay if you offer some sort of automated transfer.  Some will stay because the new service is something that they really do need.  Lots of well established businesses are currently using OLSB, but from what I have seen, most OLSB users are do it yourselfers.  Problem is that they have already done it themselves, and now you are saying that they will have to do it again and quite frankly, that is ridiculous.  I only have the one account for myself, but have helped a lot of people set up their own accounts with OLSB, and my reccomendation to them is to go with another service provider.  It looks like that Ken above may be saying that another 90 customers will go elsewhere as well.  The main concern of current OLSB users seems to be that they want a smooth automated (or at least assisted) transition.  Failing to be able to provide your customers with this is unprofessional and far from reliable".

Nicole,

I'm sorry but there's no mention of bundling Office Pro Plus with the P1 plan at office365.com. And it's not available as an option either from a trial P1 account. Can you provide an accurate link so folks can understand what's being offered?   Obviously you can find out what Office Pro Plus includes from the E3 info but that's not where OLSB users will look.

Yeh I'm with Ken Robson14 - I hope microsoft gets a huge lawsuit out of this deal -count me in.  5+ years of building my movie super mega website act1nowplaying.com and my main biz sites and my clients sites. Boy what a frekin mistake I made by investing in ms. It aint the $6 or $15 per month as much as I am not going to be able to rebuild my movie site. Microsoft, u can take a big flying leap you sorry ............. How many loyal biz customers will you put out of biz with this stunt?  You need to move my websites for me. Where is a good attorney?

Nicole

Thanks for posting the update, but I am afraid you are just sugaring the pill. The fact is your predecessor has left you with a nightmare which because existing OLSB users have not been directly contacted only a very few know of the impending disaster. The main problem is the regarding the MANUAL reconstruction of the website, surely there must be a way of automatically transistioning the website. Are you seriously telling us that the might of Microsoft cannot automatically move our sites from the OLSB system to the Office 365 system?

I did not receive any reply from your predecessor, so I don't expect a reply to this.

Alan

i have been all over the place with this.  I signed up for a trial at office 365 just to undersntand what it is all about.  Since there was no announcement other than Office Live Small Business was closing  as of Feb 2012 and my domain at micrososft through Office live small business is up for renewal jan 15 2012 I had no idea what to do.  Should I renew the domain or not because if i could not transfer the domain to office 365 I would be out $14.95 for re registering it.

If you sign up for a trial you get free telephone support so I called Office 365 and they have no idea how to help move the domain.  I got some of my webpages set up but that is about it.

I finally got into this site again here- seems you have been down all day and saw this notice.

I was wondering why i had not received yet an email from OSBL telling me about the 3 month free trial so i was getting worried I would loose my website and that is why i signed up for the trial.

Now I see you have extended the service.

It would have been nice on the main page when we first sign into OSBL that this is shown so i did not think I had only 1 more month to figure this all out

I downloaded the word document that shows how to move the domain and at least now i know how to use Office 365 when i get the email i will take advantage of the offier.

I will let my trial just lapse for now until the promotion comes out then i will re sign up.

Micrososft needs to communicate more with their customers and also I feel an email should have gone out to all OLSB customers informing them of all these changes.

robin

also you need to fix this message about the extension from feb to april 2012 just like you put ing the blob on the main site,  it is difficult enough to find this page now here and it is very confusing when you see it prior to signing in to OFfice live small business.

This is the page that needs to be updated:

www.microsoft.com/.../OLSB%20Home%20US.htm

robin

This is really ridiculous.  The "self-transition guide" is 21 pages long. Those of us with multiple websites will be stuck in a morass of cutting and pasting and saving and that's just the start of it. If I have to rebuild my sites BY HAND, I might as well rebuild them in a place where they won't charge me for it afterward. Sheesh, Microsoft, way to scr** your users.

Why the change? I finally figured how to operate this system, finally have people finding me, and NOW you want to change it? This is unreal. What little business I am beginning to find, I will definitely lose. Thanks a lot!

I'll be happy if Microsoft automates the transition from OLSB to Office 365 and then supports the platform for another 5 years That'd be worth $6 a month to me.

It is obvious that this change will cause confussion for the many customers you have from Officelive.  I am hoping that you have a good help system to guide your angry customers to a easy transition.  Many of whome have been customers for years.  

Microsoft is clueless as to the needs of a small business.  We need reliable web tools and not all this cloud collaboration "bloatware" which I found in the Office 365 trial.

Office 365's web tools are the same primitive bug ridden tools as OLSB.  It appears there's been absolutely no improvement to them!!

I have no problem with MS wanting to charge for these tools/hosting but making small customers endure the huge transition burden just to end up with the same basic web tools/look and feel is rediculous.

I see no reason why a complete re-write of our websites is needed since Office 365 is nearly identical to OLSB.

I'm also upset that I bought my Domain name from Microsoft but they apparently farmed it out to Melbourne IT without any communication.

How do I even log in to Melbourne IT since they're holding my domain name hostage and don't recognize me as having an account??  I want to be able to log in to Melbourne IT before my OLSB account goes away. Please address how I can do this!!

@DaveFd1 -- weBBrewers answered this clearly in your question thread ask.officelive.com/.../58018.aspx -- in short, "MSFT doesn't sell domain names-they registered it on your behalf from Melbourne IT." This has never been a hidden fact. Check the question thread for full advice. GOOD LUCK.

I'd gladly pay 6 or even 10 bucks a month to just stay with the OLSB.  Took two years to get my internet business successful and moving smoothly.  How 'bout offering to let those that want to stay with OLSB to sign up for a year or whatever at a fair price per month or something like that.  Y'all can still have your 365 for those that really need it.  I saw absolutely nothing that I needed or that would help my business exprerience using 365.  How 'bout it?

I can't belive this is happening! I have spent years building my site and I am only just learning how to use it properly! How the hell am I supposed to know how to transfer it to something else!!? I am happy to pay £6 or so a month but PLEASE microsoft move the websites for us! I dont even know how to start! Such a huge disappointment.

I am so disappointed and angry with this planned change.  I don't know about others but as a small business I am struggling to make ends meet.  I am just building my business now I am supposed to make all of these changes and pay $6 a month.  In this economic climate I can't believe MS as a big corporation is going to do this to so many small businesses.  I hope the new income from these charges really helps MS out.  It took me months to build the basic website now I am supposed to start over by Feb??  What kind of notice or help is that timeline?  This had to be in the planning stages for months if not a year and you are just now letting the users know - great communication!!  And in all of that planning it was never planned how everyone would move their website?  I realize all the complaining and begging is not going to stop your closing of OLSB.  You have left all of your users scrambling to transition or find another host I hope you are proud of your business practices.  

I am going to try to find someone else I would appreciate any suggestions.  I need a template because I am not a technical wiz just a small business owner.

I too am saddened to see all my amatuer website designing skills over the years be destroyed by Microsoft because they decide hosting free sites is no longer profitable for them. I too am at a lost regarding how to keep my OLSB site on someone else's server and still be able to edit it with their website editing tools, I do not know if this possible.

Either way, I think I am going to lose my site, either it will be deleted by Microsoft when they turn into Office 365 or it will be sitting on someone's server not editable.

What Microsoft is doing is no different from everybody else who starts out with a FREE service and ends up with a PAY ME service or you lose 5 years or more of your work. facebook Netcarnation Free Store. Gone now and I do not think the pay new version is working.

I have my lesson on this one and will no longer take advantage of FREE offers in the future and include me in on the Microsoft Lawsuit too.

When I look at the programs installed on my computer, you should see how many Microsoft Corporation files are sitting there..Microsoft Corp has grew into a old time GIANT in the computing industry and deserves whatever their OLSB customers give to them for Baiting them years ago with FREE website and email services for their businesses and now Switching them years later to have to PAY and redesign all over again.. Shame on you Microsoft. Not a good decision. Microsoft Heads at the HIGH $$$$$$$$$$ TOP, get ready to PAY all of us for the misery you have and will be causing our businesses, lost of income and customers.

As you can all tell, MSFT doesn't respond here and may not even see your comments. Head over to the 365 community and voice your concerns there, where at least they will be seen.

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

Does anyone know a good alternative to Office Live Small Business which provides a similar service for a modest price?

Everyone needs to be aware that re-writing your website can decimate your search engine rankings.  This can happen even if your domain name remains unchanged. (there are some advanced methods to minimize the damage control but require manual edits within the root file structure).

This is one more reason why Microsoft should consider a better plan.

Small businesses that rely on their websites for E-commerce are at risk that their pages will end up in "no man's land" due to search engine 404 errors.

As I use my website as a showcase rather than a selling tool I rarely visit OLSB and so it came as some surprise when I came across this news of shutdown/tranfer.

Move to 365?  Whilst I can appreciate that it's extended services may be economically viable for existing clients that rely on their websites for e-commerce, for me it's not.

Either way, Microsoft have shown a stunning lack of integrity in not taking responsibility for ALL logistics connected to this move.

There are webhosting services that will transfer domains and accounts free of charge, why can't Microsoft do that within it's own organisation?

And for people like myself for whom the new 'host' has no selling points, wouldn't it show both integrity and goodwill to allow an easy transition of both domain name and website pages (maybe with a logo of design acknowledgment) to the webhosts of our choice?

As it stands, it is lining up for a PR own goal and . . . . . I feel an exodus coming on.

If that happens, I think OLSB could be an acronym for something else

I agree with Ken as well, but what a lot of people are also not mentioning is that there email will all be lost as well.

The live id's will be removed and can not be transfered. Microsoft did say that if you say with 365 that the Live ID's would migrate with them, but with  Windows Phone 7 developer contracts assigned to them these can not be changed....

A tool would be very nice for migrating the service!

What are the chances as things change, Microsoft could put a few "How to" video's on Youtube to help us move through this process.  Along with an online web conference and powerpoint availble for all to download.  That might help OLSB members  to re-build websites without having to hire a partner.  

The sooner the better so we may begin to learn and educate ourselves before the big day of May 1st.

Also, how will this work with the Motorola Xoom 4g & Droid 3?  Is there an app for that?

Waiting for feedback~

What an absolute disgrace this is.  I am lost for words to describe how cross I feel about the way we have been treated.  I am proud to have built my own website which is continuing to grow well, it feels as if somebody has robbed me of something and pulled the blinds down on my shop window. It really makes you wonder who to trust,  

www.vacantpossessions.co.uk

YBARNES,

Good ideas. You should suggest them at the 365 community because those are the folks who would put transition materials together.

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

sheilaly,

You should express your feelings there too. MSFT is not paying any attention here.  

We've now seen the instructions how to move to 365. Has anyone discovered an easier way to move to any other service that's not too expensive? I honestly don't want to migrate my site again anytime soon. Please advise.

I looked into Google - seems one can only start a stie from scratch. Any other ideas?

ebellata,

I've finally completed my website transition and my advice is to develop your website using standalone web development SW. (I used Web Plus X5 but there's also Web Easy or Web Studio).

As long as you use a template it's easy to use and should be no harder then re-writing your website for Office 365.

There's a huge advantage in that it'll be your own website files that you have 100% control over.  You can pick and choose any host and any domain name server and not be tied to anyone.

Don't use a web builder provided by a host (like Office 365) or you may end up in the same situation again..  

I could not agree more with all of your comments about the severe and irreparable loss to all of our businesses and web site rankings.

There is no good reason why Microsoft can not at least allow a reasonable or humane conversion to their new format.

I don't think all of us would be as outraged to pay you $6/ month...but do you really need to make everyone cut and paste their entire website with no conversion tool or program from you?

I am stunned at Microsoft's irresponsibility and willful and wanted destruction of so many businesses that trusted Microsoft.

I was devastated when I read this news on your site in late December. Microsoft lacked the minimum courtesy to at least forewarn us of their plan to destroy small business websites with least at a reasonable notice.

REALLY.... you want all of us to spend countless hours moving our website from scratch with no assistance or programs from you?

Shame on you Bill Gates and Microsoft.

Dear Microsoft,

Please read the blogs and comments! If Microsoft proceeds with this involuntary transfer and wronglful website terminations, the financial implications are enormous and may result in community uproar. Could we all agree to pay you  the new $6/ month and you allow us to keep our web formats? Or give us a reasonable tool to transfer. We cant afford 100-200+ hours minimum to transfer our site!

Guys this gets worse much worse I am afraid there is more your not being told so I will share with you what I found out.

I decided because of all of this I would just move to a new host and be done with MS all together but.....In order to move your domain you need what's called a DRK  (domain registration key) one thing to realize here is MS is just a reseller of domain names your domain is really controlled by a company called Melbourne IT

I have contacted both MS and Melbourne IT several times to ask for my DRK but they refuse to give it to me what they state is you must first cancel your OLSB account and transfer your domain to Melbourne control and then transfer it to whatever new hosting company you have chosen...more disaster waiting to happen..... but let me tell you I have several other domains at other hosts both for myself and for clients whom I manage their sites and I have asked everyone of them for that same key and it was provided to me within minutes the only one I have not gotten is OLSB I have emailed OLSB support about 8 times I emailed Melbourne once and got no reply I might add so I called them and got nowhere as well you might want to take this number for  Melbourne it was not asy to get every other number I called i was left on hold and nobody picked up but this number works 888-863-2686 choose option 2 then option 5 I hope this helps other people I am furious beyond belief I want to have all the info i need in order to transfer my site before I attempt to do just imagine if i cancel as they suggest and something goes wrong then they are free and clear to just walk away after all I canceled my service right? what a complete screw job........"CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT NEEDED HERE"........you have a right to the DRK at any time you own the domains people but they are gonna hold the hostage !!!!!!!                  

^^^Microsoft claims they were just the reseller of domain names thru Melbourne IT.  If that were the case then why weren't we given access to our domain names at Melbourne IT??

However there's also been no access to the domains at OLSB either without cancelling the website first and enduring a lot of downtime.

The entire handling of this domain name issue is a total mess!!! There are about 3 pages of steps you have to go thru to wrestle control of the domain name you paid for and all it starts with cancelling your OLSB website!! (ie lost business)

Here's my advice:

1. Buy a new domain name

2. Rebuild your website with standalone web building S/W.

3. Find a new host and upload your site using this new name.

4. Once you're happy with your new website start the OLSB cancellation process to get your DRK key from MS and then Melbourne IT. (ask MS Tech Support to do it for OLSB otherwise it'll take 72 hrs)

5. Now transfer your old domain name to a new name server. (you can stay with Melbourne IT but you'll pay a huge price premium.)

6. Now park your existing domain name alongside your new name (step #1) so they both point to your website.

7. Point the name servers to your new host.

This will minimize your website downtime to a day or two.

Your next challenge will be to salvage your search engine rankings since your new website will have a bunch of 404 errors due to file naming differences. OLSB used .ASPX and most Web S/W names files .HTML.

You can do some damage control by editing the .htaccess file in your root directory.  Google "303 Redirect" to learn how.

Hope this helps! Microsoft has been apathetic as to the financial impact small businesses will have to endure with this announcement. (in terms of lost business)

DaveFd1 I agree  with you I have been leaning that way as i see no other way around this mess they have created,,,,,I just can't believe they won't give up the DRK every other host I have gave it to me right away what is the deal with OLSB domains???  

Since the new setup is not in line with my website purpose, I decided to switch providers.  Normal use is to:

1 create a subdomain

2 Build new site with that subdomain

3 Redirect domain to new location.

Melbourne refused to create a subdomain - most companies allow that freely.  They also want a ton of money for a "private" registration.  Ended up getting one for $12.13 for a year thru a GoDaddy affiliate. Will be building new site on it. Will move domain after completion.  (old domain was .org, temp one is .info, ortherwise name is the same. Could use some of the features provided by switching anyway. Was too limited in file size limitations among other things with OLSB anyway.

maybe some good news from this thread: ask.officelive.com/.../introducing-microsoft-office-365-and-the-future-of-office-live-small-business-olsb.aspx

HOT NEWS - we're being bailed out with an automatic transfer! See the conversation below with the 365 team!

You are now chatting with 'Alison G'.

Alison G: Hello, my name is Ali and I work on the Office 365 team.  My role here is to point you in the right direction to get you the help you need.  To do that I just need to ask you a few quick questions.

Alison G: Please could you tell me whether this is for business or personal use, and are you a Microsoft Partner?

You: Alison: go ahead

You: Business use

Alison G: Have you already purchased the product?

You: No - My website is still functional on the OLSB platform

Alison G: How many users would you be looking to have?

You: I'm a single user so would be plan P

Alison G: Thank you for answering my questions.  What is your enquiry today?

You: How we I highlight that by not making the Office 365 'Offer' live until Feb 1st that (even if you DO meet the feb 1st deadline) that leaves precious little time to migrate over to 365> I'm happy to do the work but why can't we start now - who do i speak to too get started on this?

You: Sorry - that should read "by highlighting that the 365 Office is not active until Feb 1st"

Alison G: I will just have to see what I can find out for you.

You: I know that there has been a LOT of negative comment - I can see the route MS are taking and will migrate over, even though it's a big task. BUT - I could have spent the last quiet 2 weeks or so doing this but only at the expense of loosing a place on the offer. That cannot be right!

You: So - make the offer and I can get started, better then for MS and for me!

Alison G: Unfortunately I'm not from that team and don't have the answers that you are looking for.

You: No - but you are on the 365 team and can therefore tell me what the **** is going on: make the offer to us and let's get working, rather than this crazy situation - NO ONE at MS will answer any questions! It's always 'someone else'. So, will the 365 team be making an offer to transition and when?

Alison G: I am being told that you will receive an email telling when your Office 365 account will be activated and everything will get transferred automatically.

You: REALLY????????? that is new and red hot news? wow... so we do not have to do a manual transition? I'll pay my £4 now....

Alison G: You don't have to pay £4 now, you get 6 months free

You: That's wonderful news Alison, I can relax back a bit now that I do not have to worry about this. Well, see you guys over in 365-land sometime in the spring: Fingers crossed! Thank you

Alison G: Thank you for your time today, I hope that I have been able to help.  Have a good day.

Alison G: Good Bye

You: Bye and thanks, David

Please add me to the list of Office Live users that are both shocked and dismayed at this incredibly inept transfer to Office 365. However can any current user see any advantage to having to manually re-create their website just to pay more on top of it. I can fully understand the need to compensate Microsoft for their service, but there is no way I can understand their attitude that I have the time to re-create a website that took months to bring to completion.  I understand that initially the transfer was to be automatic, but then Microsoft changed their mind...  Please, please, reconsider.  If you wish to consider yourself business friendly, start by taking this albatross off our backs!

info6632,

You should have asked for a definition of  "automatic transition". Your OLSB account will "automatically" become a 365 account starting May 1st and you'll get 6 free months.

BUT YOU WILL STILL HAVE TO REBUILD YOUR SITE!! That I can guarantee. And you'll have to move your domain.

The reason that MSFT can't recreate it for you is that OLSB is based on an incompatible version of Sharepoint. They've made it pretty clear by their unresponsiveness that they have no interest in spending  the money to develop a way to convert OLSB sites to the new version of SP.

They are clearly trying to exit the public web site business which they never wanted to be in.

So, unless something changes, don't assume your site will be rebuilt at 365. And please voice opinions at the 365 community:

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

It's a waste of time commenting here!  

Let me first say that I do not have a problem with paying for $6.00 for the service.  Office 365 does provide some additional tools although I really need none of these.  The hosted Exchange support vs Hotmail is OK, but most small business can deal with either easily enough.  

In any case, I am not going to dwell on the right or wrong of Microsoft moving to a "paid" model.  Fine, the cost is not really prohibitive or punitive.  However, I would take a strong objection with the "self-migration" policy.  It is not easy and it is not uncomplicated.  I tried to do it during the beta of Office 365 and I hit the Melbourne IT wall that many here have hit.  So, this should have been something that Microsoft should have done for all users. It is not going to happen, of course, because of the difficulties of the overall process, but the least you can do is list the "partners" and their pricing.  I contacted some of MS partners and the cost of transitioning far exceeds the costs of Office 365 (four times higher).  Am I mistaken?  

So, communicating pricing of this service to users is important.

aretzios,

We do conversions-contact us if you're interested at

webbrewers.com/contact.aspx

This is all very disappointing. I have spent several hours copying and pasting to a new Office365 account to learn that now, in order to receive the 6 months free, I will have to use a special new account. Are you kidding me? Who thinks of this stuff? Where is the business sense? All MS is doing is creating a new universe of people who don't like MS. I wonder if they know or care.

They don't know and they don't care.  Microsoft doesn't want website hosting. It was losing them a lot of money.  They want Business Owners who need the doc sharing and the communication/collaboration tools.  

 .

Most questions from OLSB website users are just completely ignored. They really don't like us and don't want to be bothered with us. I maybe slow but I got the message. I will find a new service provider.

I too have opened a 365 account because I was urged to do so when my trial expired. I was amazed last week when I had an email from 365 to say why don't I open a website with them, it would be good for my business !!!!   WHAT !!!

I replied that I had a perfectly good website with OLSB but I haven't (and don't expect to) received a reply. Where is this Nicole person now?  is she listening ?  It is really rude and not good business to ignore your emails. I have sent several.

Nicole,

Thanks at least for responding.

I'm sure you understand that the 6 month trial offer would only be useful if site transition was automated. A trial offer for web hosting isn't like a trial offer for a software program, which a user can try out and either buy, or discard, without liability. Rebuilding a site manually is a significant liability.

The only real option I see is to sign up for the offer early, play with 365 and then decide whether or not to commit the time and effort required to rebuild an entire site. As long as whatever help you plan for domain transition isn't tied to the promo offer, I assume that's about as good as it's going to get.

The time and effort to rebuild a website from OLSB to 365 is no easier then to rebuild one using standalone web building SW and ftp'ing it to the host of your choice.

With 365 you still end up with a very primitive web-builder and a corporation with no long term commitment to be in the small business web hosting business.

The only thing MS could offer to make 365 compelling would be automated conversion process combined with the 6 month trial offer.

I also think a 4 month time window is a pretty short time frame for small businesses that often lack the technical resources to do all this conversion work.

I would have no problem paying the monthly fee, but I really don't want to rebuild 3 very graphic-oriented websites with multiple domain names that took countless hours over several years to build.  Not to mention the hours that I put into SEO.  It took a LONG time to get where we are in search rankings, and now, I'm gonna have to start all over again?  

And... what happens, when MS decides to do another switch?  When will we have to go through all of this again?

If I have to rebuild everything, rest assured that it will not be with MS.  

What about the ones of us that we promiced free sites for being beta testers. This feels like a back woods way of walking away from that promice as it is more of an upgrade to OLSB then a whole new 365

You might as well all give up hoping that anything is going to change or that MS are going to offer you a response. No doubt soemwhere in the small print (years ago) we all agreed that MS could do what they liked when they liked and now we are all .......ed.

My only question now is HOW do I get back my doMAIN NAME frmo MS so that I can start a new website with a realiable caring provider?

Stu35,

Here is a section of the Service agreement that you accepted.

...

15. Changes to the Service; If We Cancel the Service;

We may change the service or delete features at any time and for any reason. We may cancel or suspend your service at any time. Our cancellation or suspension may be without cause and/or without notice. Upon service cancellation, your right to use the service stops right away.

...

So never believe that something is free forever.

stu35

EVERYONE was promised a free web site (and an unlimited number of free domains, originally). The service was originally called OL BETA but it was open to everyone-there were no special"'beta tester" deals. The exact terminology used was "FREE BEFORE AND AFTER BETA". You can see the original offer here if you like:

web.archive.org/.../WebHosting.aspx

Nicole and Microsoft,

I am very disapointed in this solution that you biscally forcing to move to. I migrated my company over to Office 365 last year when it was first offered and it has been far from smooth. Now I am being force to make this change for my OLSB account or cancel it so I can try to get my domain name back. Thanks. I also understand why you are making this change. My OlSB account isn't very large like some of these other people. I have 3 user and I currently pay $14.95 per year for this service and for the same service on the low end Office 365 account you want me to pay $216 a year. My math might be off a little but that is a huge % increase for you if I do make this change. Hmmm you know $6 per month per user doesn't sound that bad but when you look at it the other way it is a lot of money to be asking for in a bad economic time.

I have to add my disappointment to the way that this has been handled. I have three websites on the officelive platform and this is the first I have heard of the plan to discontinue the service (Jan 2012). I have had no direct (to my registered email addresses) communication from Microsoft to say that the free website option was being withdrawn. I only discovered this when checking online for responses to outage problems on the websites last night - so now I have just over 3 months to evaluate alternatives and move the sites. I suspect that many other people will find themselves in the same position.

I can't believe that this is the way Microsoft are handling it - why no direct email indicating that the website option was being replaced and that users will need to take direct action?

You have destroyed the little person like me

Serendipity,

I have not rec'd any official email communication from MS either. (my contact info is up to date).

I learned about the demise of OLSB accidently.

I have a feeling a lot of OLSB accounts will go "poof" on 4/30 without the owners ever realizing it.

MS needs to increase the communication!!

Nicole,

what is it with Microsoft that they continue to ignore very valid comments,  Even simple requests just go unanswered. Every day that goes past is a day less to get the rebuild of the site started. Start the 6 month offer and let's get going: What you're gaining in revenue is peanuts compared to the loss of customer goodwill. I asked this before but no one answered...is this the 'cloud' at work? is there anybody out there?

All these things seem to be very complex for an individual business or little associations. OLSB was quite easy to implement in spite of recurrent issues with editor (not stable at all). On the other hand, I am a little bit afraid with the future ! Eric

My issue seems to be different than most here.  I subscribed to OLSB in April 2006.  I already had my own website hosted by a telephone company. The phone company allowed up to 50 email accounts etc.  Our problem was the web based operating of the email accounts were horrible.  Most of our folks did not have Outlook installed on their PCs, so Office Live solved that problem.  We alredy owned our domain, so I transferred everything over to Office Live.....the web hosting, the email accounts etc.  I was paying $19.00 a month for OLSB Premium, advertisement free, have up to 100 email accounts at my disposal. Our website does nothing for us but serve as an on-line brochure.  We don't do e-commerce.  We just need a good email service, where plenty of people can log into their email accounts without having the installed Office Suites on their computers.  That's what is great with OLSB for us.  The $19.00 a month will now be approximately $180.00 a month for virtually the same service.  I know times change, but this one is hard to swallow.  I will do my homework for other web based office suites and see what I can come up with.  This isn't just $6.00 a month for me.  It's $6.00 for every person I have using our email system, which can be up to 50 email accounts.  In this new pricing, each email account is termed a "user".  This pretty much prices me out.  If any of you are in the same situation as me, where the website is not important, but the email accounts are, I'll do some homework and see what else is available.  I have been a big fan of OLSB, it has worked very well for us.  The ability to issue an email account to each of our employees has been a huge benefit to us.  It really seperated us from our competitors.  This new 365 presents a huge problem for us with the pricing.  Going from $19.00 a month to $300 a month.......who would have planned for such a thing.....for virtually the same service?

"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!" As wise saying, indeed! I started my OLSB website and e-mail in 2007, and it's been great! I wouldn't mind paying for it now; it would be well worth it, but if, and only if, I didn't have to move everything. But now, no way; you've totally lost my confidence! I have signed on to "GoDaddy" with their best program at $10 a month; I can build my project "off-line' while keeping my old website live; then, I'll only lose a short downtime when I close my OLSB and open my GoDaddy. Also, they promised if they ever upgrade their software, I'll never have to start over. Goodbye Microsoft; hello GoDaddy!

On the OLSB team, we’re driven by two things – bringing customers great tools to help run their businesses, and listening to their feedback so we can get better. (DON'T YOU MEAN, TAKE AWAY CUSTOMERS GREAT TOOLS AND IGNORE THEIR FRUSTRATION?) Feedback from small businesses has been essential to the design of Office 365. ( REALLY, THE ONLY FEEDBACK I CAN SEE IS DISAPPOINTMENT!) The feedback from our OLSB customers, asking for a longer transition period, has led us to continue running the OLSB service until at least February 2012. For now, OLSB users can continue to use the service as they currently do. (LONGER TRANSITION PERIOD, HOW ABOUT NO TRANSITION PERIOD AND JUST LEAVE A GOOD THING THE WAY IT IS!

3 websites built via Office Live, I am very dissappointed that I just stumbled upon this notice today. I would have appreciated some direct notice of this change.  Thank you to all the commenters who have provided more info to us. I will read about this new program but doubt I will use it.

I live in Scotland UK and so far after going through all the forums and the youtube tutorials can find nothing that represents Office Live Small Business in the UK. no prices for the new 365 and no help.

I already have a domain name which I want to keep & it is paid for until July, but the instructions printed online for the transition are to technical to follow (same with youtube)

I moved to microsoft 2 years ago with the promise of an easy to use web site builder and it suited my purpose(I was with ORANGE before and they did exactly the same thing that is happening now, threatening to pull the plug with little warning) I managed to move my whole site with only hours to spare, now the same thing is happening all over again so who can be trusted?

I don't need cloud & all the apps. just a basic web site ,at the moment mine has 40 pages with many pictures and much text as it is a  very busy fan site for a famous singer.

If I move my site I will lose the  position I have on google search etc.

So can anyone at microsooft advise me on how to move to office 365 without losing my domain name, my website , my visitors , and my position on google etc.?

I know how to run a web site,have done for 6 years but am not technically informed enough to understand all the jargon on the domain transition instruction pages (far too many for a start).

Sandra

Othe forum readers might be interested in the conversation I have  had with a 'person' on Office 365 Help ,as per usual he passed the buck and said it was NOT an office 365 issue.......

You are now chatting with 'Daniel B'.

You: Sandra hi

Daniel B: Hello, my name is Dan and I work on the Office 365 team.  My role here is to point you in the right direction to get you the help you need.  To do that I just need to ask you a few quick questions.

Daniel B: Please could you tell me whether this is for business or personal use, and are you a Microsoft Partner?

You: ok

You: personal,i already have a OLSB

Daniel B: Do you have a trial?

You: not yet,idid not know til recently that OLSB was being discontinued,now I am in a panic incase I lose my existing site

Daniel B: You will get 6 months free on office 365 and an e-mail from Microsoft letting you know that you are being moved over to O365, so don't worry.

You: I live in UK and after reading the forums for help see nothing thereof any use,only complaints from other users, my problem is not the building again of my web site, I hope to manage that but the instructions for transition of my domain name are to technical for me to follow, also the youtube .

Daniel B: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

Daniel B: Hi, sorry

Daniel B: Hi, sorry

You: My domain name is very important and is listed on google,if I have to change the name it will lose me the places I have on search engines which I have worked had to get,my site is a fan site for a very famous singer which incorporates his name so I need the same domain name.

Daniel B: When you purchased OLSB did you purchase through a partner?

You: I still have my domain name purchased from microsoft paid up to july 2012

Daniel B: When Microsoft e-mail you about the transition you will be able to contact them through that. Don't worry, you won't lose your domain name.

You: If OLSB ceases in April does that not mean a breach of contract if my domain is paid til July

Daniel B: You can keep your domain name and will be moved over to Office 365 so you will still keep your domain name.

You: Will there be an easier way to transfer my domain name? all I have read about getting a registry key etc sounds a very unpredictable confusing exercise

Daniel B: As this issue is with OLSB and I am on the Office 365 team I would suggest you call the customer support number on 0800 032 6417

You: You say I will be moved, does that mean someone will do it for me then?

Daniel B: I hope they can help you further.

Daniel B: You will be guided through the process.

You: No this is an issue with both, you are passing the buck, there is nobody answering questions on OLSB i have tried

You: Who will guide me

Daniel B: All the information for the transition will be in the e-mail

You: so I have to sit and wait for an email that might not arrive in time to give ME time to do the transition

Daniel B: If you call the customer support number they will help you further. As this is not an Office 365 issue I'm really not the best person to help, sorry.

You: Do you realise how long it takes to build a website with over 40 pages.

You: Why did you not say you could not help in the first place, I can not afford to sit on hold on phone for hours

You: It IS an office 365 issue,it is an issue with the transition from one to the other

Daniel B: Sorry I have tried to help as best I could. Please call the number I provided.

You: In other words there is nobody who can help, I have tried OLSB help, the forums etc and nobody knows anything and we get directed to Office 365,so why is there nobody at Office 365 with enough knowledge there to help

You: I have copied this down and will let others on the forums know the outcome of my questions,I am guessing there will be an unhappy response

Thank you for chatting with us. Please click the "Close" button on the top right of the chat window to tell us how we did today.

Nicole you don't seem to be taking any of these comments to the right the people at microsoft or the microsoft would know this is a huge mistake in which the will reap the loss of direct and indirect customers.

I am also frustrated. I build an information site on OLSB. I Belive MS should be liable for  issues raised here in this forum, Domain name, Lost of business etc. I suggest if everyone take MS to small court in their respective state, country it will amount to a class action lawsuits.

I agree with K Robson & others. I WOULD NEVER NEVER have built my website with microsoft if i thought this was going to happen, but me like many others, thought microsoft would be the best & trusted company to deal with,. I was a beginner, not a computer expert. took me ages to build the site, inbetween trying to run a business. NOW I FIND I HAVE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN - COULDN'T YOU HAVE MADE THIS EASIER WITH ALL THE TECHNOLOGY YOU HAVE. I have started to build my website elsewhere now - & for the same amount you will be charging for office 365 - I can get so so much more from them. BUT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO STAY WITH MICROSOFT - which I've been with for nearly 4 yrs. I'm not bothered about the money microsoft wish to charge, but why couldn't you have made it easier to transfer or at least provide a better service - as half the modules are missing from office 365 websites - THE CALENDER MODULE IS THE MOST MOST IMPORTANT PAGE ON MY SITE - AND YOU WON'T HAVE THAT MODULE ANYMORE - SO WHAT'S THE POINT OF STAYING WITH YOU ! EXACTLY WHAT CUSTOMERS ARE YOU LISTENING TOO, AS YOU STATE ABOVE - BECUASE ON READING ALL THE COMMENTS BELOW YOUR BLOG, ITS SEEMS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT NO ONE IS HAPPY WITH THIS 'NEW SERVICE' YOU ARE PROVIDING & ALL THE WORK IT INVOLVES FOR US. ITS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE & SHOWS YOU HAVEN'T CONSIDERED YOUR CUSTOMERS ONE LITTLE BIT ! I WILL NOT BE STAYING WITH YOU - IF I HAVE TO TOTALLY REBUILD MY WEBSITE - THEN I MAY AS WELL GO ELSEWHERE - AFTER ALL WHO WANTS TO STAY WITH A COMPANY WHO TREATS ITS CUSTOMERS LIKE THIS. Many thanks - but goodbye !

This is an absolute disaster for me, my company, my customers and the many associations whose websites I have built and manage.

I'd accept to pay a few euros per month and site to have them transferred and hosted. But since I apparantly have to rebuild all sites from scratch, I would like to take the opportunity to move them to better platforms. But what will happen to my domains and e-mail addresses??? These are used by all my customers and their customers, students and teachers, members and associates; there is no way we can be down several days!!! I can't believe this is happening....

I Have little IT knowledge and it took me quite a while to get my head round creating my web-site. The transitioning instructions just go way over my head and I can't afford to make a mistake and have my site down, neither can I afford to pay anyone to do it it for me, no that I know who I would be looking for anyway. I can't be the only person in this position, I can't see why microsoft can't do this for us it would be so much easier and helpful

I Have little IT knowledge and it took me quite a while to get my head round creating my web-site. The transitioning instructions just go way over my head and I can't afford to make a mistake and have my site down, neither can I afford to pay anyone to do it it for me, no that I know who I would be looking for anyway. I can't be the only person in this position, I can't see why microsoft can't do this for us it would be so much easier and helpful

As you can see Nicole I am not the only user in this situation there must be thousands of us. We don't know where to turn, we are sent backwards and forwards between OLSB and 365 with no assurance that we can transition smoothly or be offered what we have now if we do. With all the uncertainty can we be sure that on the 1st of February we will be given clear instructions ? to a lot of people it will be a complete shock because reading the stories from others they have only found out by accident that this is happening at all.

Times are hard enough and small businesses are struggling to make ends meet without more sleepless nights worrying about losing their Websites too.

www.vacantpossessions.co.uk

I was a UK Office Live Small Business user but the lack of support and transfer help has made me vote with my feet. Yesterday I successfully transferred away from Microsoft and I am fully hosted for website and email on a UK hosting site for a very acceptable cost of just over a £1 per month.

My downtime was around 5 hours (the time taken for the domain name to be reassigned to the new host servers.  Email was working almost straightaway.  My domain name is still with Melbourne IT but I have control now and not Microsoft.  Later I will transfer the domain name registration away from Melbourne IT when renewal time comes around.  The only downside was that I had to set up my website myself but I would have had to do that anyway on Office365 and I am more than happy to have the freedom from Office365 and future changes imposed upon me.

My website is www.ipscope.co.uk.  The process I used was based on the 6-step self transition guide mentioned above but modified to fit my new host. Details can be provided.

Hi Phil, I am in Scotland UK, can you give the name of your new host ?all the ones I have found so far are in USA etc and I would prefer one based in UK if possible.

I had a look on Office 365 Facebook page and was surprised to see NO  mention of the problems customers are experiencing with this problem, only 'satisfied ' customers, maybe we need to take the complaints over there to be seen as they are not getting noticed here on the forums.

Or how about higlighting it on Twitter where it is more public, OLSB customers need to be seen AND heard.

Thanks

Hi Sandra, I have no hesitation in recommending my new hosting plan.  It is with Compila (http://www.compila.com) a UK based company with customer service that I have found to be excellent, far superior to anything we have experienced here.  

I don't use facebook but I like your idea of Twitter and have left some comments there on the poor treatment of OLSB users.

How much time will we have to rebuild our sites on the 360?  Just wondering.  Also, will anything be moved to 360?  Will the Domain name be moved as well?  Why is Microsoft making this so hard?  Please advise.  Also, will you wave or discount non-profits costs.  Have a wonderful day & I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,

JM

Hi Phil ,thanks for the link, will look over it with interest, at the moment I have 40 pages of pictures and text,videos etc ,it is a fansite for RUSSELL WATSON and very busy,so I can't afford to lose time off the internet or I lose my 'place' on google .

It will be interesting to see if you get any replies via twitter ,the situation on OLSB needs to be made more public .

Thanks

By the way, I have just posted this on Facebook so ,we will see if there is any response.

Why is nobody answering the questions on the forums about queries with the transfer from OLSB to Office 365,so many upset people there with many questions and nobody taking any notice ,these people like myself are worried that we will lose our websites and worse our domain names  due to the lack of assistance

This is the link

www.facebook.com/office365

Why am I being forced to TRANSITION to Office 365.   I have found Office 365 and Office Live to be completly seperate products.   Office Live = web site and branded email.   Office 365 = collaboration.    I have no use for the features of Office 365.   Those who do will be happy to transition.    And now it is a SELF-TRANSITION?

Why can I pay a resonalbe fee to use Office Lve?  Let me chose if in fact I have to SELF-TRANSITION to Office 365 as currently I have no use for the features of Office 365!

To All,

"Office Live = web site and branded email.   Office 365 = collaboration.  I have no use for the features of Office 365. "

Unfortunately, MSFT "has no use" for you precisely because you only want a web site. O365 ISN'T really collaboration. It's a way to shift Office software to a subscription model to try and stop Google et al from eroding the Office franchise. Public web sites just don't fit in that model.

And as I've said before-complaining here is useless. I rarely see any of these issues raised on the 365 COMMUNITY.  That's the place to complain:

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

So am I right in thinking that when OLSB accounts transition to Office 365 manually or automated the public facing website will need to be created again from scratch including uploading every picture again, retyping SEO keywords, retyping meta tags, retyping all text, creating new html modules, creating and naming all pages, adding sitemap to Google, uploading documents, recreating hyperlinks, adding PayPal feature, page styles and page format, navigation pane, headers and footers etc etc. I've used the trial version of Office 365 and there is no backup/restore feature and as we all know copy and paste doesn't work as the format displays incorrectly. Nicole If this is the case then please could you kindly send me the link to Go Daddys website, many thanks.

To weBBrewers.com,

The reason you won't find many complaints on the Office365 community is because you have to join Office 365 before you can participate on their community forums.  Microsoft will not let me sign is as an Office Live user.  As you rightly say it is all part of Microsoft's plan to turn away customers who only require websites and do not need the collaboration of Sharepoint or functions of Office365.

My advice to everyone is leave now and set up elsewhere.  That's what I have done.  The self transition is not easy and if you have not planned for it you need to start now - don't wait for Microsoft to do it for you - it looks very unlikely that they will be capable of an automated transfer and even if they did you would need to spend time sorting out the inevitable errors in formatting and layout.

Nicole. Please correct your error located six lines above your name.  Thank you, JoAnn

Nicole. RE: pubic in 12-17-2011 post. Please correct your error six lines above your name.  Thank you.  JoAnn

Office Live and Office 365 are totally different products.  So many important features are not available in in Office 365. 1.  web site statistics/reports not included    2. ability to have multiple domain names for 1 web site. not possible  3. ability to use hotmail as branded email solution.  not possible   And now the SELF TRANSITION is very difficult as many features of  Office Live  web design tool are not available in Office 365.  1. .PDFs will not open in browser.  2.  Key modules are missing including: custom footer, custom header, and custom navigation are not available  making it impossible to recreate some of the more advanced stuff.    I could go on.  I hope Microsoft management is reading this.  Why FORCE Office Live users to move to Office 365  at a great cost to your small business customers?  

To Phil Coldrick:

You CAN create an account at the 365 Community with a Live id. If it's not working for you sign up for a 365 trial or 2. I urge all of you to express yourselves there where you may be heard.

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

To Wireless,

I've been saying what you just said for 15 months. That tells you 1/ MSFT has failed to get the word out about 365. 2/ They're not going tp pay any attention to one user. They need to hear it from more.

Nicole,

Do you really think 60 days is adequate time for these small businesses to make this transition??

Is this really the Microsoft that Bill Gates believed would revolutionize the world, making things better for us all? You can forget help or support, no one in the organisation is listening! "I read them all"...oh really - then why has NO ONE answered my specific queries. This is the total opposite of what the Microsoft 'ethos' is supposed to be. Yet for us to just walk away is doing their dirty work for them. Frankly, this stinks, time to recognise that unless something happens - and fast, we'll all be screwed, yet Nicola and those who are supposed to be there to help will just be telling us the mess is 'our' fault.

Thank you Nicole Richard [MSFT]

You are at least giving us some answers. They may not be the ones we want to hear but they are responses.

Nicole,

As I said before, a free trial of 365 is worthless unless it's combined with an automated transition. No one in their right mind would spend the time rebuilding their site on the off chance they decide to stick with 365. Building a web site isn't like trying out a piece of software. And users don't need 6 months to figure out the 365 site designer is a stripped down version of OLSB's.

Likewise, I doubt many OLSB users see much value in 6 months of OfficeProPlus when they know it's going to cost them $15 a month after the trial.

Clearly what they really want is an automated transition.  My understanding is that isn't being offered because OLSB and 365 are built on different versions of Sharepoint. OLSB can already produce a site back up solution file. Can you explain why the co that created Windows can't convert that file to be compatible with 365?

If not, I'm afraid the conclusion OLSB'ers are going to reach is that MSFT COULD, in fact, automate the transition but DOESN'T REALLY CARE enough about OLSB users to do so.

This whole thing is a complete mess if you ask me.  I have been using OLSB since I set up my business nearly 3 years ago and although there has been some warning, this seems to have been managed really badly.  I cannot afford to wait until 1st Feb for a promotional code, due to imminent maternity leave (I am a sole trader so neither I nor anybody else will be able to work on the site during my maternity leave period) and as such all I need to know (and urgently!) is:

How do I get my domain name moved to another provider ASAP (I renew through OLSB each year) and what will happen to my email after this has happened?  Will I still be able to access my emails through Hotmail and if not, where will all my SkyDrive files go?

I'm very diappointed in the way all this has been handled - I have always used smallbusiness.officelive.com as my homepage to log in to OLSB and up until a week or two ago, it was telling us to expect the transition by October 2011(!) - and then for a few days it mentioned that we could still use OLSB until April, and then suddenly the page no longer exists!!  It took me a little while to find this page, which appears to be the only even vaguely sensible information available!

Nicole Richard [MSFT] stated on 21 Jan 2012 8:51 AM

...

First, I want to make sure you all have the link to the Office Live Small Business support team: support.smallbusiness.officelive.com/default.aspx.  They are here to help OLSB customers like you.  Don’t hesitate to open up a support request.

...

Oh yea!

She also mentioned

...

As outlined in my original post, the time required to move your web site is exactly why OLSB will run through April 30, 2012, "PROVIDE A DETAIL SELF-TRANSITION GUIDE" (that will walk you through every step of moving your website) and offer six months of Office 365 for professionals and small business and Office Professional Plus for free through a no-obligation trial- a $126 per user value - to each of our OLSB customers.

.

The release of the promotion code and the updates to make it easier to release a domain will be available around Feb. 1, 2012.

...

remember that you have free OLSB support or you can hire a partner.

..........

how easy it can be

After trying the 30 day trial I was worried I would lose my site so I signed up for Office 365,  I haven't done anything to move my site yet as I am still in turmoil about what to do for the best, how does this leave me now when 1st of February comes, will I still get the 6 months free trial because at the time I signed up there was no mention of a free trial, it seeemed you had to go with 365 or you lost the lot.

I have also purchased a .com domain from 1&1 and am in the process of trying to move that to 365 and build another site, just incase my efforts to  move my .co.uk  goes wrong and I am without a site at all.  Advise please,

sheila Ley

www.vacantpossessions.co.uk

@ sheilaley,

When the 6 month Office 365 offer is given, you will sign-up and create another account with Office 365.  Create your website and re-direct a domain name to it.

Sheilaley,

I'd ask questions about 365 in the 365 community. If you're already subscribed maybe they'll waive the fee for 6 months.

This is the most PREPOSTEROUS business decision EVER! I don't need all the bells and whistles that 365 is offering!!

I built my free website with OLSB for the very reason that it is free, easy for the end-user, and allows me to constantly update my site whenever I want to!!

I don't mind paying $6/month... BUT I DO mind the idea that I have to physically transfer my nearly 100 page website, page-by-page, text area-by-text area, photo-by-photo, module/gadget-by-module/gadget!!

UGH!!

I appreciate Microsoft wanting to "new and improve" everything they do... but OLSB needs NO improvement for the very small business owner like myself and hundreds of others that have been using it for YEARS!

PLEASE continue OLSB for those that want and need it... If you want us to pay for it... make it reasonable and we are happy to pay to keep it!

If that is NOT an option... you MUST develop a simple and easy way to transfer our websites! Whole site transfers... intact!! This is the BEST way to KEEP your customers. Otherwise you are looking at a HUGE attrition rate and a HUGE class-action lawsuit on top of that!

Microsoft had better PAY ATTENTION to these comments and respond one-for-one to them!

@ KimMosny,

They can't make it a simple transfer.  The public websites are different.

.

In business "Free" never means forever. So there isn't going to be any lawsuit.  Here is a section of the Service Agreement that you accepted.

...

14. LIABILITY LIMITATION.

You can recover from the Microsoft parties only direct damages up to an amount equal to your service fee for one month. You cannot recover any other damages, including consequential, lost profits, special, indirect, incidental or punitive damages.

...

15. Changes to the Service; If We Cancel the Service;

.

We may change the service or delete features at any time and for any reason. We may cancel or suspend your service at any time. Our cancellation or suspension may be without cause and/or without notice. Upon service cancellation, your right to use the service stops right away.

...

If you don't need those bells and whistles then move somewhere else: here is a link to some good Free Hosting services: www.webdesignbooth.com/places-where-you-can-create-websites-online   , with Weebly and Yola receiving good marks from past OLSB website owners.

Pasted from <small-business.web.officelive.com/default.aspx>

Oh dear! What a "firestorm" this is turning out to be! Having used the Office 365 beta (small business and Enterprise editions) I contacted my non profit org client and advised them to start investigating other "paid for" and free options - back in Aug 2011. We are now in the process of re-directing the domain name to their new site. As an IT pro I'm very used to the "its free" slogans issued by many companies eg Yahoo Microsoft et al. Its a pity that many small business (who have no real IT support to help them through the transition) are going to be "tearing their hair out" come April. The offer of free Office 365 for a couple of months doesn't actually address the pain of moving to Office 365 when some of the features in OLSB websites wont actually be available in Office 365!

If any Charity or Non Profit Org needs assistance in transition please dont hesitate to contact me. Unfortunately I can't offer help to others.

Have Microsoft shut down OLSB already??  I can't log into smallbusiness.officelive.com/en-gb which comes up as "We are sorry, the page you requested cannot be found".

Nice one Microsoft- no notice, no email, nothing.

@ clf_fischer,

Think before you make statements like that.   If you would of taken 2 seconds to read this blog, you would of seen: "...will continue to run the OLSB service through April 30, 2012."

.

So your website problem has nothing to do with OLSB shutting down.

You need to report your problem to: support.smallbusiness.officelive.com/eform.aspx .  They are here to help OLSB customers like you. The ones who like to shoot the mouth off before they think.

"They can't make it a simple transfer.  The public websites are different."

^^^ I don't believe this for one second.  It's not that they can't automate the conversion. It's that they simply don't want to.

@ DaveFd1,

That is right and they are not going to.

.

"...  While I am not able to offer an automated transition ..."

Copied from Nicole Richard's [MSFT]   posting above.

Extremely disappointed with all of this. Have only found out about all this change by chance!!!!!As I will have to set up a new website anyway, I will be moving away from microsoft to another domain host and setting up a new website with them :-(

Am going to ask one simple question. All I want is a nice, simple to update website, no credit card link ups, no clever pages...pure vanilla all the way. That and branded email.... not a great set of criteria. So, is 365 going to be a good solution for me or should I just go for any of the over the counter web solutions!

@ davidhenshall,

Don't pay $6 or £4 a month for a simple pure vanilla website. Besides, Office 365 to be a great "web hosting" solution. Their focus is for office collaboration, document sharing, -- Intranet, not internet and renting Microsoft Office.  There are many places that will give you Free hosting and email using your domain name.

See --> www.webdesignbooth.com/places-where-you-can-create-websites-online  

Taken (copy and paste) from the "What is Office 365?" webpage, "Office 365 for professionals and small businesses (Plan P)

Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses is a $6 per user/per month subscription service that lets you access your email, important documents, contacts, and calendar from virtually anywhere on almost any device*."

I do that today with all my Hotmail accounts, oooooooo...h.  I guess I know what is going to disappear next from the Microsoft Business Plan.

To davidhenshall,

I'll repeat my suggestion to OLSB users.

Don't go with Office 365 if all you want is web.  I completed the 30 day trial and the web builder is even worse then OLSB.  It's very primitive!! Meanwhile Office 365 is loaded with bloatware aimed for corporate use vs. small businesses.

Here's what you should do:

1. Build a website with standalone SW.  (ex: Web Plus X5 and Web Easy are two examples but there are many more). You can start with templates that are very intuitive.

2. Now transfer your website to your choice of hosts.  There are tons of them and the cost is about the same as you'd pay for Office 365.

3. "Wrestle" your domain name back from MS/Melbourne IT and transfer it to a new name server and point it to your new host. (or you can let the host manage your domain name)

Now you're in 100% control of your website and have 100X the future capability if you need it.  

DO NOT use a hosts built in web builder if that ties you to that host permanently.  (one bitten twice shy)

I can't figure out what is going to happen to all the businesses that make extensive use of the contact manager.  I am supposed to manually export and re-import into the new Office Live 365?  I don't even see that Office Live 365 even has a comparable contact manager...

Anyone have any suggestions for a replacement?

Hello, Is there any way we can pay $6.00 a month to keep our OLSB instead? I finally have my website just right and love the look of it now... and I'm not very computer savy ~ Thank you! Holly

Hi Richard Fletcher, I have sent you an email, hope you received it.

Thanks

Nicole: I want to make sure i get the promotion code on February 1st.  My concern is that it will emailed to an account that is no longer active.  My current OLSB account access is using an email account as the username that is no longer active and I have found no way to change that.  I just want to make sure I get this information that is promised on Feb 1.

Hi Nicole,

I am having problen getting the TXT record as my Domain Reistrar (namesecure.com) does not give me a choice of entering MS code and while my website is being hosted at OfficeLive Servers, they asked me to cancel my account first but I have monthly paying $21.95 WindowsLive MAIN account with msn.com email  for at least 20 years (Which I do Not want to cancel or delete) so I am concerned about afeecting that when canceling. I have already build the new site with subscription to Office 365 and waiting this Verification glitch. Also more impotantly, Advanced features of OLSB are Not available in Office 365 for Website Reports, as the Web Site Statistics are Most Valuable tools. How to access the Advanced features and the Statistic Report Features please or will these features/tools be avaiable in office 365?? Muhammad

Hi Nicole

As a small business owner, I too have enjoyed the ease of use and flexibility of OLSB.  Your change to 365 reminds me of what happened to Netflix.  Trying to get more money out of their current clientele, and this isn't $10 more per month for entertainment.  This is a person's livelihood and something they have created over many years and have come to depend on.

I am sure 99% of your current OLSB clients would be happy to keep everything as is and pay a modest fee to do so.  I have already spent several hours just reading all of the articles, blogs and writing this comment to you and this takes away from my other job duties.  Re doing everything will take a greater amount of time and energy.

What does the 99% need to do for Microsoft to keep everything as is?  If you are going to maintain this ill advised path of forging ahead with this change, please let us know what alternatives there are.  If you are so sure that 365 is the best thing since new Coke, please let us know who besides Google Apps we should look into to keep our costs in line.

The economy has only begun its recovery, and for many of us, this will set us back not only in time, but also in the pocketbook.

Thanks for listening.

@DonaldBaker1,

    The OL transition guide goes through the process of changing the contact e-mail associated with your site.  Go to your OL home page and select manage domains.  Then next to your domain name click properties.  On the section for registration contact information, select edit properties.  Change the e-mail to one that is still active and save.

@insman1,

    Lots of people have been around in the same circles and gotten nowhere.  Unfortunately, Microsoft is using OL as a learning experience.  Really when it comes down to it, Office Live has a lot of problems internally and it would be rather difficult and costly to fix them.  Unfortunately also, Microsoft is failing to stand up and make right on their promises.  I do understand that when a problem (like when sites are not on line) arises that OL support probably receives thousands of e-mails from customers complaining.  This is difficult to deal with in an already broken system, but because the system is broken, the new platform must be created.  As far as other alternatives, we will all have to become a little better educated as to managing our online presence.  I like Google Apps for domain branded e-mail and other applications.  I like the functionality and versatility of Google's Blogger for website creation.  I like the simplicity of Weebly in reestablishing a new website.  These are all free (to a point).  Other than that, Google search can find almost anything.

@Nicole,

    I realize that the wheels are already in motion, but a lot of people have a lot of content, applications, subscriptions, and search engine rankings tied up in Microsoft's current Office Live system.  I have already made up my mind that I will not be using Office 365 for anything.  I have also had well over a year to plan for this change, and most of my website was orchestrated to offer assistance to other Office Live users so I have no reason to need that information any where else.  However, the reality is that a lot of customers will not be able to complete this project alone.  I think it should be Microsoft's responsibility to make sure that these people have the tools and the assistance needed to make this change as smooth as possible and e-mail only support (plan p1) won't cut it.  I would also like to suggest that you extend the Office Live service an additional 3 months for those who do choose to transfer to the new system.  This would allow them 6 months to transfer to the new system allowing those with lots of content to collaborate with the 365 support staff and make it actually happen without a substantial loss in customer access.  It is Microsoft's broken promises that have put us here now.  It is Microsoft's lack of planning that has made it difficult to transfer websites.  It is Microsoft's responsibility to do all that is within their power to make this right.

What you say Wllie B makes sense, I only found out about the changes a few months ago,came as a great shock, my site is extensive and I have good google rankings, therefore  a longer transition period would help. Not only that, when we get the 'supposed' email on the 1st Feb the help lines are going to be SO busy they will not be able to cope and no doubt there will be site owners who will not be able to get through for the required help, also when emailing for help at the moment sometimes takes more than a day for a reply,so after Feb it could take much longer so what do we do then ,in the meantime  the time is ticking on to the Aprl deadline?

Nicole..

Microsoft should reconsider keeping OLSB like should be for those whom dont need any additional applications to their website. Complication to the general public is always not greeded, implimenations of new process creates problems.. If this is money issue. I am sure, Because if it was other technological advances, Microsoft will recreate options for those whom are professional. and small business. Microsoft failed to evaluate that is not just small business is utilizing creation of website. There are many Individuals whom created websites with monetary conditions.. Now is taken away from them... from $16 dollars annual customed website.. to now the quatriple the cost.... Microsoft should reconsider their social obligations to those whom cant afford to move to Office 365. Keeping the customer well represented on the website will keep harmony with Microsoft... Remember their Million of small people utilizing Microsoft...

My Office Live personal website has an ugly displayed advertisement that I added and want to remove, but Microsoft has been charging me online for accessing and, therefore, editing my Office Live personal website. The government warns against entering any personal information, including account numbers, into any websites. How do I access and, therefore, edit my Office Live personal website?

I have just been updating my website at Office Live Small Business and find my 'reports' page has stopped working.  I hope this is just a temporary thing and it hasn't gone already, I find it really useful, also is office 365 going to have a similar facility? I can monitor my website usage and see which pages are most popular, also I can see how my search ranking has grown with a graph.  I have over 200 visits per month now which I am 'very worried' about losing. If this isn't available with 365 I don't think it is going to be for me and will look elsewhere for another host.

According to this article on Office 365 people who have Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) are getting help with a TRANSITION TEAM so why can't the OLSB people also get help from a transition team???????

blogs.technet.com/.../sharepoint-online-post-transition-guide-bpos-to-office-365.aspx

Existing Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) customers are being transitioned by the our transition team to Microsoft Office 365.  During this transition the Microsoft Transition team will move all existing BPOS SharePoint Online site collections to Office 365 per tenant.

There is also this forum

social.technet.microsoft.com/.../bpostransition

Looks like they get more help than this one does.

It also seems I was right about the volume of people trying to do the transition at the same time causing a backlog ,

Doesn't bode well for the rest of us.

social.technet.microsoft.com/.../f3f5c812-6846-4956-a678-9fda26449677

@ sandra-d-r

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS) customers have always been paying customers. They paid (and paid big) for BPOS. While we here are just a bunch of complaining customers that want Free Service.  BPOS users fit the Office 365 Business model and we don't. They want ... collaboration, document sharing, -- Intranet ... and we don't care about that stuff. They didn't have a Public website and we do.  So who would you take better care of?

    No matter how much we have paid in the past, they are expecting those of us who wish to transition to 365 to be paying customers in the future.  There are some relatively successful businesses currently set up on Office Live and it would be good for Microsoft to attempt to attract these customers to the new service.  The fact of the matter is that most current OL users will be able to find it much simpler to move to a new service provider rather than learning the overly complicated 365.

    As Ken mentioned (way) above there is a host called Digi Brahma.  They offer service as low as $0.99 per month and are the only hosting company (that I know of) willing to offer live support for all Office Live users who wish to transition to their hosting platform.  They are willing to hold your hand through the entire process because they recognize that it is good business to keep customers happy.  No Office Live user has ever paid them anything in the past and they are willing to do a lot more than Microsoft to make a smooth transition.  If Microsoft is not willing to do the same at over six times the cost, then they are not willing to be competitive or compassionate and they deserve all of the bad press and ill feelings directed toward them.  

    Google is awesome.  If you would like information on transitioning to Google (or other providers), then follow the link on my name.  Google makes it so simple that there barely even needs to be a transition guide, but I am putting some stuff together there to hopefully make it a little easier to get away from Microsoft for those who want to do so.

Hey Willie

I appreciate the link on your blogger site to the verification tool. There's a direct link to a better version of it here:

webbrewers.com/cata.aspx

All the best

As for the  BPOS transition, Office 365 IS BPOS bundled in one package. So account migration is relatively straightforward. Migrating OLSB accounts could also be done but only if MSFT decides it's worth the effort, which apparently they don't feel it is .

Willie B

I am leaning towards Google and have them as my service provider.  Do you have anymore info. I have just signed up with a Google account.  I am really worried about moving  as I have had a big increase in traffic to my site recently and am afraid I will lose it. What do I need to do to start this in motion if I decide to move there because I have lost faith in Microsoft. Is there a subscription to pay and how do I get started with the transition?

Thanks for all your intersting comments.

Sheila Ley

Hey weBBrewers,

    Thanks for the link update.  I realized how much stuff was no longer on OL (ie. softprizm) once I started to put it all together.

@sheilayley,

    To this date I haven't had to pay Google for anything.  Actually, they owe me a little money.  I still have my Office Live website and my domain still points to it here.  You can create free sites with Google sites or Google's Blogger.  I like Blogger better, Google sites seem to be a little restricting as far as design, and you can create as many blogs as you like with quite a few pages.  You can even give admin privileges to someone else and let them edit your site for you.  You can have all of your blogs in the same account.  There really is too much to go into here.  Just start up and check it out.  I intend to be adding a lot of content to the blog that links in my name about further editing potentials, example backgrounds, alternate navigation, and I don't even know what else yet.

    As for the recent traffic, you will not have to worry about losing that until you redirect your domain because everything here will stay intact.  Unfortunately, the only link that will still work will be the direct domain name without the /page.aspx.  Anything other than that will produce a 404 error.  I am working on possible alternatives to this extreme inconvenience, and I have an idea, but I am not sure yet.

Thankyou for all the comments I have been reading, I too am very concerned that  we cannot simply keep the olsb site going. or at the very least have a simple way of retrieving the domain name with out losing all the data. Mine is a holiday cottage business- 1 cottage only - and is high on google. I do not want to lose the google rating and the spring is the most important booking time.

I have made another site using weebly.com which is easy to do and is presently free but for sone reason does not list high on google in spite of much care and attention being paid to meta tags etc.

I did not realise the email would go too. I thought it was a hotmail account.  

I would love help in sorting this all out. Idont know who to ask re this and how much it would cost. Any advice welcome. ideally I want a site I can edit and one that is not expensive.

Hi

Over the weekend I tried using office 365 and found it is quite similar to office live. However, I have noticed that there are a number of things not working on the website builder that concerns me.

1) The gadgets don't work???

2) Changing the colour scheme for navigation works on the builder but when you view the site it stays the same.

I hope that this is going to be addressed before the transition as it is very important to have the site running correctly.

Also, I was hoping to see more features in Office 365. One of the main ones that I was thinking of is a much bigger choice in zone layouts as this is one of the only drawbacks of the site builder. We all have different ideas of what the site could look like and many sites have many zones.

It would be really good to see plenty of zone choices and I think it would really benefit the website builder.

Also, I think that the navigation should have more options like size, font and mouse over effects. Again this is very important in this day and age for a good website.

Last but not least roll mouse over effects ahould be built into the builder i.e underlining and colour changing when the curser hovers over the link.

On a plus side of things I have noticed that the code is more clean on the website and there is more of a choce of font colours which is good.

Please can you confirm that the sites functions are all going to be working as this is extremely important.

Kind Regards

Silv.

I would also recommend to Microsoft that if you do add more functionality to the builder then alot of these people complaining above might be more happy to go with you. It a question of you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. Hope this advice helps.

Forgot to mention also that this cost per user is a bit too much. At least give us a few users for paying you every month.

Kind Regards

Silvio

Bottom line is this I have to USE 365 or LOSE OLSB - is that right?

@ Sherri17

No, you're going to lose your website no matter what to do or where you move. You are going to have to rebuild it on Office 365 or somewhere else. Office Live Small Business is shutting down in May and all web sites and e-mail accounts will be deleted.

See ask.officelive.com/.../common-questions-about-microsoft-office-365-and-office-live-small-business.aspx and ask.officelive.com/.../142376.aspx for more details.

This is MORE than frustrating. Is there any document or site which explains what I either LOSE or GAIN by moving my website from OLSB to Office 365?

In interface is so easy to use in OLSB....do can I expect with Office 365?

@ Karen Ellison,

You may want to look at this:

small-business.web.officelive.com/default.aspx

and community.office365.com/.../87253.aspx

I am very disappointed with MS! I am an owner of a very small family owned and operated limousine business. This means that we do all of the work ourselves... from the website, to the office work, to the taxes, to the driving, and also to the maintenance on our vehicles. How in the world am I going to find the time to transition all of my hard earned work over the past 5 years of working with OLSB. I can't!!! I am already having a hard time finding 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Am I to be expected to use this sleep time to transition all of my work to 365??!!! I am not an expert with computers. I taught myself to build the website we have, and it took years to get it to where it is now. I can't afford to be paying someone to do this work for me. It will take me forever to get things switched over, and my time is money. We charge for our time, as I am sure that most of the business owners, that OLSB, do. As I have read above, and MOST CERTAINLY agree, it is time to contact my business attorney for a class action lawsuit. Anyone else interested?

@ Jeffrey_Doty

"...it is time to contact my business attorney for a class action lawsuit..."

.

Not going to happen.  Didn't you read the Service Aggreement?  Here is a section of that Service Agreement that you accepted

.....

15. Changes to the Service; If We Cancel the Service;

We may change the service or delete features at any time and for any reason. We may cancel or suspend your service at any time. Our cancellation or suspension may be without cause and/or without notice. Upon service cancellation, your right to use the service stops right away.

...

I agree with Mr. Chambers dated 12/24/11:

"I'll be happy if Microsoft automates the transition from OLSB to Office 365 and then supports the platform for another 5 years That'd be worth $6 a month to me."

Bummer!!! You are right! I guess I just get to take it in the rear and like it! OUCH!!!

Time to switch companies!!! I have already contacted my IT guy, and he is going to set me up with a web hosting company that offers competitive rates and 24/7 toll free phone support. That is what I am talking about. This blogging BS is for the birds!!! I will post the new web hosting company for everyone else's resources once he does it for me. I hope they can offer me a service that won't be dismantled in 5 years!!!

I am dismayed at what is going to happen. Im a small business in the real sence of the word. not only do I loose my web host but my web address as well. the email states that if I do not sign up for things I do not want or use this will be the case.

I have spent a long time setting this up and now its being taken away. what a wast of time and money.

I am very upset at this entire transition, to have to move all my data and creat something from scratch is just not fair, For all of us who paid our yearly fee for our website and domain are we going to be refunded since you are practically canceling are sevices against our wishes?

"For all of us who paid our yearly fee for our website and domain"

Rebecca,

You only paid for the domain name which you can take with you. The web site hosting was free.

All,

I'll repeat what I've said here before:

Posting your concerns here is a WASTE OF TIME as no one with any authority at MSFT will see them.

Voice them at the 365 COMMUNITY.

community.office365.com/.../default.aspx

You can sign up with any Live id.  

Day 2 of designing in office 365.

I've experimented quite a lot today and there are a lot of things that just arent working properly. I really think that all functions should be working properly before even considering emigrating office live clients. I'm not happy at all with this and I think Miicrosoft should consider this.

Also, I would like to see a form designer like before,,,,,this is very important for contacts.

I would like to know if more gadgets are going to be added in the future or if this is it. been looking at other web builders today too and there are some great functions on some of them like a good roll over navigator choice,

I'm afraid that if there is not going to be improved development on office 365 then I'm moving as I'm not going to spend 1 to 2 months transitioning and wasting my time.

On a plus note i do like the alt tag for images.......this is very much needed.

Microsoft.......I know you can do it.......give us more functions like this and shine above the other website builders!!!!!!!

@ silv,

"I'm afraid that if there is not going to be improved development on office 365 then I'm moving

..."

I give you permission;  - move

...

PLEASE read what - weBBrewers.com wrote re: Update on the future of Office Live Small Business

on 1 Feb 2012 1:14 AM ****** above ****

 .

Or maybe you are just venting and you look foolish talking to a wall. Because that's about all you are doing here.

Seems to me most important issue we are all facing whether we go to 365 or another service is how to deal with a 404 error and 303 redirects.  Is there anywhere to find this explained as it is key to any transition.  Knowing what to do will certainly help me make a decision on next step and lose less sleep.

Incidently, I found about this change today by mistake. No email and no alert was sent to me..

Has anyone actually received email notification yet ,if so, is it helpful?

Ken Symicek there is no need to be sarcastic,there are a lot of people worried about their businesses and are receiving no help what so ever ,probably like me ,fed up getting links to forums etc  read that are full of technical stuff and abreviations (with no explanations to what they mean).

Just incase anyone is still visiting this forum ...

I got my email today with the link for transition but WINDOWS won't let me open it ,so HOW can i do the transition???

I contacted the HELP by email and was given the same link again and told to look at the forums for hints .

What kind of help is this ???

I get a pop up which tells me WINDOWS can't find the file, so what do I do now , I am with Firefox.

I have also posted this on the Office 365 forum transition thread here .....

ask.officelive.com/.../58668.aspx

Where are you now Nicole when people are needing help, have you deserted the sinking ship?

Sandra, I got "the email" last night, though I nearly overlooked it.  The subject line was "Office Live Small Business will be discontinued on April 30, 2012‏"--I don't leave my pane wide enough to display 65 characters.

As you read the text below, please note that the "please note" at the very bottom was in about 6-point type:

Katharine,

On April 30, 2012, we are discontinuing Office Live Small Business. We would like to offer you an opportunity to self-transition to Microsoft® Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

To get you started, we are offering you an exclusive 6 month free trial, of Office 365 for professionals and small businesses and Office Professional Plus, which includes:

A spam-filtering email account

Document sharing with employees, customers, and clients

Microsoft Office Web Apps: Outlook®, Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®, and OneNote®

Instant messaging, audio/video calls, and online meetings

Simple website management

The latest version of Office 2010 desktop applications

Sign in to redeem your personalized promotion code

Get ready now

There are some steps you need to take to prepare for the transition to Office 365. We strongly recommend that you start preparing for the self-transition by March 31, 2012. To get started, follow the steps outlined in the self-transition guide.

Need help?

Get help transitioning to Office 365 by finding a partner or visiting the Office Live Small Business Community. (English only)

Thank you for being an Office Live Small Business customer.

Sincerely,

Office Live Small Business Team

Please note: If you do not transition your subscription, your email account and website will be deactivated and all content will be deleted after April 30, 2012.

Well I contacted support and got email back telling me to follow the instructions and go on the forums for help, since then I have tried logging on to Office 365 and my ID won't get accepted even although I am already logged on the my web pages on OLSB  so how am I supposed to do the transition if firstly WINDOWS will not open the link to do so & secondly my ID does not work,

This is the 'support 'reply I got.

Sandra, if you want to transit your Microsoft Office Live services to Microsoft Office 365, you need to manually transfer your data to Microsoft Office 365. I know it is hard to read and follow the instructions to transit your account.  However, you need to follow the instructions which are already given to you by Microsoft Office Live and Microsoft Office 365 Support Teams.

THIS IS WHAT THEY CALL HELP,

I am now looking at another website builder

My biggest fear is my email during the tansition.

70% of my business is based on email communication. Has anyone had a problem or lost mail during the shutdown? How long does email take to transition?

Hi

I'm just starting my 6 month trial for Office 365 from Office Live and I would like to know that once I've moved my website over from office live to office 365 in the self transition process is it after this process is completed that I move my domain?

Also, will the office 365 urls be the same as my office live website (nicheoffices.com)? The reason I ask is I've noticed that there is a "Pages" part after the main name of the url. For example:

nicheoffices.sharepoint.com/.../default.aspx

Now my address on my purchased domain in office live is as below.

nicheoffices.com/default.aspx

The question is, will the obove be kept the same once moved or will it turn into this below with "Pages" in it?

nicheoffices.com/.../default.aspx

The reason why I need to know this is because I have built up a lot of back links from other websites and don't want to lose them.

Please can you help.

Silv

Silv

@silv

    You don't want to cancel your domain until the site is completely ready.  When the domain is no longer associated with OL, it will point nowhere.  As for the search engine rankings, your old links will produce 404 errors.  I have mentioned before that there is a work around that you can find at webbrewers.com/cata.aspx#1.  I believe you have to begin the process using this work around, but I'm not sure.  Check it out.

What a disaster....i built my site with MS since i thought you folks had staying power...guess i was fooled.  WHY can't OLSB stay active and you can run 365 separately?? You folks are killing me here...i do not have time to re-create the whole site.  Why can't MS automate the transfer???  You think we are all website designers??? we are just folks setting up some simple tools..usually by trial and error...and to start again...?? WTF!!

Hi Willie B

Thanks for getting back to me.

How do you mean work around?

Do I need to manually adjust my incoming url links on other websites?

@ silv,

    I haven't tried it myself as I have no intention to stay with Microsoft through this whole fiasco.  I knew that it had been mentioned a long time ago in a post on this forum.  I believe that you have to create the pages and some how put them in a folder that is different from the standard location.  If memory serves me correct 365 automatically generates pages with an address like : yourdomain/p/pagename.aspx where OL generated pages like: yourdomain/pagename.aspx.  Any link that points to the OL one will not find the new 365 one.  Without a 404 redirect, visitors will get a 404 error instead of your site which makes people believe that your site may not exist anymore.  Making the address the same should land your visitors on your new page.  Even if you can find a way to put in a 404 redirect I don't think that your old pages will still continue to build ranking.  Your new ones will still build ranking but only if your visitors will find them.  Hopefully by reading through the material at that site you will be able to make more sense of it.  If I was going to transfer, that is where I would start otherwise you may be rebuilding twice.

@Silv,

Redirects: unlike OLSB you can drop files at the root of your site in 365. That gives you the ability to replicate your OLSB urls and redirect to the NEW page. The article covers how to get files uploaded to your site (using drag/drop or Sharepoint Designer).

You can contact me for details at webbrewers.com/contact.aspx or post a question in my forum at office-live-answers.4048856.n2.nabble.com/Office-365-For-The-Rest-Of-Us-f6542393.html

Why can't olsb just stay as well and charge us, there is a definite market for it, just read these responses!!!

I signed up for OLSB a few years back with excitement that I would be able to build a website and have it hosted for free without tacky ads.  What a horrendous mistake it was to trust Microsoft.  I've been a Microsoft shareholder in the past, and I believe this OLSB debacle embodies the mismanagement that is now rampant throughout your corporation.  First, last year, it was decided to suspend the *free* domain names.  Well, the e-mail that I used to sign up for the account was supplanted by my newly created MICROSOFT HOSTED e-mail, but all notifications were nevertheless sent to my then-defunct e-mail address.  Long story short, my website and e-mail went down without notice.  I'm an accountant, and my e-mail went down during tax season.  All of my historical e-mails were deleted and couldn’t be recovered.  This was inexcusable.  After a few days, I was able to contact the domain registrar in AUSTRALIA and pay ridiculous fees to get the site back up.  Strike 1 for trusting Microsoft's *free* small business offering.

Now, of course, comes strikes two and three.  OLSB is being *migrated* to Office365.  By *migrate* you mean that customers who weren’t paying for OLSB will have to pay for Office365.  What you dont mean by migrate, and which seems true to Microsoft's form, is that the 100k engineers you employ couldn’t figure out how to actually migrate OLSB users' websites over to this new service.

What a joke.  All of these headaches for trusting your company's initial offering.  Never again.  Your company is terrible and any business (small or large) would be ill-advised to trust it.

If I'm going to have to waste time and rebuild a website, it sure as hell is going to be on any service hosted by Microsoft.  Continue your descent into oblivion...with one less customer.

I am disapointed that you could not have piggybacked your existing OL website holders to the new Office 365. I am not going to fool with you, because you have lost my trust. Your word is no good. Since I have to rebuild my site, I am going somewhere else. Oh, and when I try to open your "self transition" guide, my Microsoft Word program (because it is an older version) will not convert it. What it shows is your logo and pages of MUSICAL NOTES! I wish I could read music because it probably is a song screwing people over.

I am now running round like a madman, considering other webhosters, and the unprofessional 365 transition option. Like others I don't need all the bells and whistles and from what I read I can get a better service elsewhere at a better price. Also apart from starting again I assume our SE rating will have to be rebuilt! Just what we all need in a recession. Good timing Microsoft. Such a shame OLSB had it all for the small business website.

I can believe that Microsoft aren’t smart enough to be able to create Office live 365 and transfer all existing sites from Office live small business into it, your inability to perform such a task doesn’t fill me with confidence. I will attempt to move my site bit I imagine at sometime in the future I will end up building a new one with a new provider.

Just to throw it into the comments again, Lots of current users can throw a site together with weebly or many other free hosting services.  Personally I like the functionality and visual editing abilities of blogger for in depth site design.  You can find a lot of information on getting started with blogger at oltransition.blogspot.com or follow the link on my name above.  Everything that you have can be recreated easier somewhere else.

Why can't OLSB stay active? I spent so many years building my web sites on a reputable name - Microsoft. Why don't you let OLSB run? even without support is ok.

As a note of possible comfort in the storm;

When you go through the process to get your "domain key", your email and website should still work - mine do. I changed my contact email, received my key, and activated my account at MelbourneIT - in a matter of minutes.

If you have already paid your domain fee (at M$) for this year (mine was due this month) - your subscription at MelbourneIT should at least extend to that time next year. (2013) Don't go by the date on the main console summary page - the actual expiry date is shown on the domain management page. This is also where you access DNS, MX, A, and CS - DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THESE UNTIL READY!!!

I also went ahead and paid $16 to keep my registration private. (At MelbourneIT)

MelbourneIT's pricing seems to be much better than 365 as well. I don't know where the detractors got their information, other than making it up out of spite - but this is where I got mine.

www.melbourneit.com.au/.../pricing (domain = $35.50 USD/year + $16 for private registration) For me, that won't come until next year, as I already paid my $14.95 at M$ - BEFORE getting my domain key.

As far as email hosting - on the temporary to possibly permanent side. I am planning on getting an additional *.net domain (I already have a *.com), and just adding the MX record, to use Windows Live Admin Center. (Hotmail/Live)

I have already setup Windows Live Mail to automatically sync with my current OLSB email accounts (all of them), in order to keep an up to date (live) back-up, leading up to April 30th. Once the *.net addresses are setup, I would just need to send an email out alerting recipients of the change, as well as logging into accounts that use those emails, and change them from *.com to *.net. (The purpose of the above steps are to mitigate damage in the rare likelihood of the *com addresses becoming broken (i.e. - 271 days, downtime induced RTS), and to establish stable connectivity prior to moving the website, to it's new home.)

Several other users have provided excellent tips for addressing 404 and 303 errors. It would be in the best interest of those concerned with their ranking and results to take note, and heed those suggestions with a fair amount of curiosity.

Face it folks OLSB is history, weigh your options and move on, just like you did, when you originally got OLSB (Most of us, when it was still called Basic BETA). There won't be any fancy tools to make the transition to 365 automatic, and the rumors of incompatibility as a speed bump - well for those who wish to swallow that pill, I'm not gonna argue a moot point. However, in a nut shell - the separation of OLSB and Ofice365 as completely different products, with no tangible connection - is deliberate, all for the sake of liability and control. We can stay and pay, or bicker and leave - either way, M$ loses nothing, and we are entitled to nothing.

Thank you to Microsoft, for providing a means for so many, to get their feet wet in respect to having their own "web presence". OLSB was a tremendous offering, that many came to enjoy and prosper from - if only there wasn't that damn 271 day thing with WLAC - it should have been an option for us...

tahwos,

Just to be clear on domain fees, Melbourne charges more than double what MSFT was charging and more than triple what a registrar like Go Daddy charges so the "detractors" are actually correct and this is another "hidden" cost of the transition:

"MelbourneIT's pricing seems to be much better than 365 as well. I don't know where the detractors got their information, other than making it up out of spite - but this is where I got mine.

www.melbourneit.com.au/.../pricing (domain = $35.50 USD/year + $16 for private registration) "

@weBBrewers.com,

Given that the minimum single user pricing for Office365 is $72 per year, OLSB (MSFT in your reply?) is soon to be non-existent, and Go Daddy is the king of hidden costs - your point is moot.

Nor is $35.50 per year an extraordinary cost, coupled with the fact that - if you pay M$ BEFORE you remove your domain from OLSB, that MelbourneIT will honor the remaining year, at that cost. So all one has to do, is at the very least, establish reliable free email (WLAC comes to mind) - and hopefully cheap or free dependable hosting. They have an additional 12 months, to shop for a new registrar, if they feel so inclined. Setting up MX records and what not, are extremely simple at MIT, and probably the least cumbersome part, of the whole OLSB/O365 ordeal.

The detractors, as it were - suggested that the MelbourneIT fees were extraordinary, and far beyond anything even remotely comprehensible as a reasonable cost. The quote went something like this, "...at the mercy of MelbourneIT's aggressive fee structure..." Not copy and paste, but close enough - I'm not looking for it.

If you want to compare the rest of their fees, to those of M$'s latest offering, which was the intent of my inclusion, be my guest. But don't knock my post, because you have issues with other posters trying to be helpful, or cutting into your hit count as the be all end all of authorities on the subject.

another simple question for those who are ahead of me in the "what the **** do I do now" other then get as far away from MS as possible. I've got hosting sorted but is there a web build package that is very close in appearance to my old (and much loved) OLSB site? Thanks, David

@tahwos,

I'm not sure if you understand the set up here. MSFT was a reseller, Melbourne was the registrar they contracted. Even with the MSFT discount, an OLSB domain was significantly more expensive than Go Daddy, for example. I just renewed a domain at Go Daddy for $8. Renewal for the same domain at Melbourne would be $35+. I don't know what "hidden costs" you're referring to at GD, but I haven't seen any. However, when you cancel the domain from your OL account, you'll lose the MSFT discount. That's what I call a hidden cost and is something OLSBers should be aware of.

I went with godaddy.com! The cost is so much less and I have lost enough revenue because of this disaster! Thank you very much Microsoft! I have to re-do my website anyway so a nice new format with godaddy.com it is! It takes 4 days for the tranisition from Melbourne so more money lost! I would have paid microsoft $100 a year to leave it alone!!!!!

My friend tried the transition to 365 and lost access to his website completely. I looked at the overwhelming list of steps to transition and decided it is not for me.

I found it a lot easier to just get a Free website through GOOGLE SITES

www.google.com/.../overview.html

Sorry Microsoft, but you did it to your self.

Well its 1st May 2012 and my Office Live websites are still working and even editable. I wonder how much longer before Microsoft delete it all, could it be that they dare not delete our sites for fear of litigation?